Dreadlords The Cold North

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair was silent after the translation, letting all of this new information wash over his mind as he was already beginning to try and formulate several plans to follow through with. He and Luthen both agreed that there was no point in killing this man, but they did not need to help him more than make sure he did not die.

In fact, as soon as they healed this man, they would be put on a timer. They needed to have this artifact before he was able to hurry back and warn the Tsar.

"Now that I have an idea of what to look for...I can find the artifact. It's probably giving off an aura like a lighthouse and the pseudo-divine always has a certain look to it."

In fact, those followers were probably still nearby, but maybe he should try and keep this man hidden for a touch longer while they put more distance between themselves.

"We can try to do it silently, but if we do then it needs to be quick."

 

[Marcia]

It seemed that their plans had changed.

With her back to them, Marcia only picked up on half a conversation, unable to overhear Luthen's sign language. It seemed far more practical to keep watch rather than participate for the time being, especially if, as Dreadlord Krixus stated, time was of the essence.

Too many cooks and all that.

That being said, there was a fine line between battle fodder made to follow orders and an Initiate who knew when to offer input and when not to, and after they had conversed and patched up the man, the girl finally spoke.

"If we forgo rest, we can use the night to our advantage," Marcia suggested, looking back over her shoulder at them for their thoughts. They had initially come to the cave to use it as a shelter for the evening, but adaptability was paramount.

 

[Luthen]

Initiate Marcia is correct. They knew now what they needed, and what stood in their way.

Doubling back tonight would give them some semblance of surprise. There was little doubt that the Boyar had already guessed that the artifact they sought was the very one she was using to acquire her power. Catching her off-guard was paramount.

The Four of us will head back tonight. The Dreadlord said clearly, motioning towards the felled Guardsman. Alistair, if you would, collect what knowledge you can from him.

Then he motioned to Vittoria, ensuring that she called Marcia back from the watch. The three of us will draw a map of the fortress as best we can.

We leave in an hour. The Dreadlord ordered with a finality to his words. A little rest would go a long way, even if it was spent pulling through their collective memories.

Quickly the three of them set about drawing a map of the fortress, using details provided by their newfound friend. Before long they had what appeared to be a mostly accurate map of the Keep, though with more than a few gaps when it came to the lower levels. From there a plan was made, and quickly the four Dreadlords set out from the cave once more.

The cold of the night was now joined with flakes of snow, the cutting wind drawing down through the valley as their night time march took them back to Erlysk.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

With a curl of disdain at her lips, Vittoria summoned Marcia with a simple call with her name, turning around to pay attention to Luthen. It was up to Marcia if she got there in time to catch the plan being relayed to them.

She did not translate his signing this time. Vittoria nodded.

Providing her services to working on the map, it was a great way to keep her occupied and on task than to notice how annoying and grating Marcia's inputs were. Luthen was an excellent mediator between them, deescalating anything before it could begin. By the time they were to leave the cave, Vittoria felt sure in their plans.

Despite the gaps, Vittoria was confident their lessons would be put to use in neutralising any threats that came their way.

If it came to it, Vittoria would happily slip her cuffs off and channel her magical reserves at full power.

 

[Marcia]

It had been an uneventful trek back to Erlysk.

This time, they had diverted around the fortress, obscured by the cover of the night as the winds that had picked up slashed at their faces with a flurry of unrelenting snow. They had a small window of opportunity, a slight advantage of knowledge garnered from the wounded man that Dreadlord Krixus had helped attend to.

A preliminary plan was in place.

It involved two teams and two different approaches. Luthen and Vittoria would deploy a direct and forceful approach on the fortress, pulling the behemoth guardsmen towards them. This enabled the team of Alistair and Marcia to slip in, hopefully undetected, to locate and retrieve the artefact.

On paper, it was fine. However, they'd only scoped out the fortress once, and while they had been paying attention, it didn't account for having a complete layout.

They'd camped out in an abandoned hut on the outskirts of the town, finalising their plans in the frigid dark of a homestead left to the elements, the wind whistling through every crack and gap. Even through the ward that Luthen had taught them, her cheeks were red raw. It was a small mercy, really, that their prize was within their grasp from the start. Marcia wasn't sure she could have held a positive demeanour in this climate for the long haul.

 

[Luthen]

Even with the map they had, this would be difficult.

The Keep was a winding labyrinth filled with traps, and as they had observed earlier the Guards of this fortress were not the ordinary sort. As he studied the small map they had made Luthen rubbed fingers gently through his beard. Vittoria and I will strike from the eastern side of the Castle and pull them south.

A night time attack made the most sense.

The more attention they pulled the easier Marcia and Alistair would be able to sneak into the Keep proper. Once they were inside, they would have to make their way to...well, they had no idea. It was Alistair's job to find the artifact.

We will try to give you as much time as possible. Luthen signed. But if you cannot find it within an hour, leave. Better to return another day.

They would simply have to return later, or perhaps find another way in.

It would be dawn in three hours, meaning they had just a little bit of time left to strike and get back on the ship before all of this came to an end. With one last look, Luthen glanced at his companions and motioned for the door.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Vittoria relished in the idea of being the distraction.

There was something about dangling before enraged beings, and this task meant for her to be seen. In order for Marcia and Krixus to go unseen inside, Larrainth was instructed to pull the guards nearby away. It was simple, perhaps foolish of the two guards on her tail to abandon their posts, but she succeeded in it.

They were fast, but Vittoria had a good head start on them. They were unaware of the trap herself and Luthen set, but that was the first course of action to their strike.

Through tunnels that did not cut off the main entry and exit, Vittoria could hear more guards join the chase. Her heart was beating so quickly, it felt as if it rose up towards her throat, but she let out a gleeful laugh as she ran into a planned dead end. She had assured Luthen pain would not be a problem should the guards attack, but she was confident in how quickly she could bring down the walls and ceiling above them all. All the while she had been running, Vittoria embedded her magic into the foundations, letting it fester in the walls.

The first strike was to create noise.

In all the chaos, Vittoria broke the wall behind her and jumped to a safer path. She gritted her teeth at the impact upon the floor, but ran towards where Luthen had instructed her to be. She followed the planned path they had worked out half an hour before, a large grin on her face at the thrill of using her magic for destruction.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair's quick interrogation of the wounded man had brought them much-needed information, but that was the last Alistair would be speaking to the party until they arrived in the town. For the entire trip, Alistair silently sat upon his horse seeming to furiously work on several small baubles and pieces of parchment.

As Luthen laid out the plan, Alistair vaguely listened, but he was already aware of what needed to be done. He quickly shot over the hand sign for understanding before moving off with Marcia to perform their part of the plan.

"Here, take this."

Alistair slapped a piece of parchment onto her clothes and mumbled a quick incantation. When he pulled the paper away, a temporary ink print was left in its wake like one of those fake tattoos.

He quickly explained its use, "When I activate the spell that will assist us in our stealth. It is not perfect, only deflecting attention away from us. As soon as you use any sort of magic the runes will shatter, so be sure when you decide to take action."

His own clothes had morphed in a combination of blacks and greys, perfect for infiltration. The dreadlord stared intently off into the air, his eyes already working to pick up any sort of trail that may be traceable for the two of them.

"We will begin when we hear the others begin. Are you ready?"

Alistair did not wait for an answer as his enhanced senses informed him that their plan had begun.

"Alright, let's move."

Marcia

 

[Marcia]

Marcia was confident that Luthen and Larrainth's combined efforts would create a formidable distraction, allowing them to go undetected. For all the loathing the girl held for Vittoria, she could always rely on her to follow orders and excel; she could not have purported to have been the best of them otherwise. Not to mention being accompanied by a practically legendary Dreadlord.

Once they reached the opposite entrance, all they had to do was lie in wait.

Two brutish guards stood at their entry point, diligently keeping watch until a swift messenger ran into view. The alarm had been sounded, and while the men spoke in a foreign tongue, the urgency was evident in panicked tones. One immediately peeled off to join the fray the other two were no doubt making, leaving with the messenger; however, the other lingered, his gaze sweeping over the area one last time before abandoning his post.

All clear.

Ordinarily, the girl would have used her magic to remain unseen and scout ahead, but she took the limitations of Dreadlord Krixus' rune magic as a challenge to adapt without relying on the crutch of her signature talent. The pair pressed into the fortress cautiously, stopping at the end of each spartan corridor to listen and look before proceeding.

Alistair was their compass, taking the lead in their pursuit of an arcane trail that would lead them to the artefact, with Marcia's focus entirely on their active surroundings.

Before they rounded another corner in the stark corridors of the fortress, the sound of rushing boots alerted them to an oncoming flurry of reinforcements. The girl touched upon the Dreadlord's wrist to let him know, having no scope to the man's awareness of his surroundings when seeking traces of magic.

Favouring function over form, there was nothing for them to hide behind, so Marcia pressed up against the wall with a hand on the hilt of her dagger. Ideally, they would pass them by without so much as a sideways glance.

 

[Luthen]

Luthen stood in a small dark alcove in the dead end. He was cloaked by shadows pinned by the moon, his eyes flickering slowly forward as he watched Vittoria rushed quickly towards him.

Two guards chased almost immediately behind her, half a dozen more following soon after.

Eight would not be enough to buy Alistair and Marcia the time they needed, but those eight would soon be more. As Larrainth approached and the wall behind her shattered, he motioned for her to follow through with the rest of the plan.

The instructions had had given her were truly simple, though had been emphasized time and time again; cover your ears. He had given her cotton, and then instructed her to do her best not to hear a single thing that he said.

As the Guards broke from the wall, Luthen stepped from the shadows and spoke. "Stop."

His voice was hoarse, but firm.

It felt an age since he had last spoken, though he did try to speak to himself often when alone, but his voice was enough to bring the two men to a halt. The other six following soon after as he repeated the commands. Each of the Guards frozen completely in place, their eyes darting left in right in panic.

"Change." He hated saying the word, doing this to them, but there was no other choice. Within an instant, each of the Guards began to roar in pain. Fingers digging at flesh, bones snapping, skin ripping and tearing as their true forms were revealed.

The sight and sound of it was horrific, sickening, but Luthen waited until they stood in front of him. Warped and changed to their true form as werebears.

For a second, Luthen stared at them in pity, and then he spoke a third time. "Go kill your master."

He told them, and without a beat of hesitation the eight werebears turned around and began to charge the way they came. Luthen looked after them for just a brief moment, and then signed to Vittora.

Come on, time to attack the other side. The more chaos, the better.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Vittoria heard nothing.

There was no need to when actions were stronger than any speech that left Luthen's lips.

His word was pure power. To bear witness to it's thrall was intoxicating. Her eyes watched as they shifted from men to beasts, their true form revealed, and how they were powerless to their own free will.

Luthen would find her smiling, softening her features but if one was to look closely, they could see the delight in her eyes.

They had another wave of chaos to enact.

Vittoria nodded, leading the way. She kept the cotton in her ears, as Luthen had instructed he would be the one to tell her when to remove them. No dead end could stop them, her magic pouring into every crevice of weakness and tearing down the walls to allow them the fastest route possible.

Only a couple of the guards came across them, but Vittoria made quick work of breaking the bones in their arms or legs to a point that would have them heal slowly over time. Perhaps it was careless of her to leave them groaning in agony, and so she knocked them both out with the hilt of a dagger she produced from her forearm.

"Almost there..." She murmured, starting on their path once again.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair followed closely next to Marcia. He had to trust her to keep an eye on the surroundings while he continued to track the magical aura that they followed. The artifact must have been potent because it energy was already starting to stain the castle itself. That made it more difficult for him to follow, several times he had been forced to pause so that he could figure out the correct direction and not follow a false trail.

He felt Marcia's touch before he ever noticed the guards, but once a mission began, Alistair had been ingrained to trust the other Dreadlords around him when they each had their own assignment. He pushed himself up against the wall next to her and held his breath.

The guards were walking by closely and they were out in the open, but he had faith in his magic. In fact, he had more faith in that than anything else on this mission. Their attention would slide right over them and never spot them.

Just as they were getting close enough for even Alistair to worry, a signal went off that seemed to inform the guards further as they cut a sharp corner and hurried off further down the hall.

"Good work. This way."

Alistair wasted no time in leading them deeper into the castle down a servant's hall.

 

[Marcia]

The servant's hall was quiet, as to be expected at this time of night, with most of its inhabitants either sound asleep or on duty elsewhere within the fortress.

Still, Marcia's head remained on a swivel, listening for the slightest creak and looking for the movement of any doors as they made their way through. On occasions when Dreadlord Krixus stopped to catch his bearings and follow the trail beyond the sight of mortals, she would take the opportunity to scout, peering around corners to ensure no eyes were on them.

Their coast seemed clear, the diversion by the other two doing as intended.

The servant's quarters led them into a narrow back passage that didn't look to see much in the way of footfall, given the complete lack of windows. Even without arcane sight, it felt like the right way, the lack of doors to other rooms or branching corridors suggesting that this would lead them to a single place off limits.

A stark archway was presented before them around the next corner, steep stone steps leading down into the bowels of this place beckoning the pair with a sense of anticipation and omen.

However, before they could proceed, voices came from behind, echoes of a gruff foreign tongue echoing from further down the passage. By her estimation, two guards were no doubt heading to ensure what lay beneath remained protected. Marcia tapped Alistair's wrist twice to inform him, ready to take his lead in whether they were to hurry and descend or ambush the guards as they rounded the corner.

 

[Luthen]

Luthen tilted his head in a nod as they came upon the final turn. His fingers quickly flickering. Be loud, draw as many eyes as possible, and most importantly, don't get caught.

They couldn't afford the time it would take to break anyone out.

Neus was a foreign country, and although the Boyar here technically intended rebellion against the Tsar, he doubted the Dumas would be happy to hear Dreadlords attacked one of their cities. Luthen had little doubt that an army would be sent before the week was out. Either for them, or for the Boyar. Staying in Neus was not an option.

He reminded the Initiate of that fact before they stepped around the corner. Thumb came up to his mouth, glove quickly bitten away. The Dreadlord’s heartbeat steady as fingers quickly began to weave against the stone besides him. Without speech, his college magic took more time. The rune etching just as one of the guards by the gate noticed them.

The man began to walk over, calling out, but Luthen ignored him as he drew the final line.

A spark suddenly ran over the wall, and then just as the Guard began to step towards them; the stone exploded. As if heated by some unseen flame, the first layer of the wall simply jutted out with an incredibly loud BOOM. Shaking the earth and the Keep up on it as shards of broken rock were thrown into the guardsmen, his screams echoing out as almost instantly cries of alarm and bells began to toll.

True chaos falling onto the keep.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Opportunity came to her. As the Guard sustained injuries from the impact, Vittoria latched her magic into him and began to claw away at him in small incisions of her Decimation tearing in many places. His screams carried on, a song of agony and torture. Whenever she needed him to become louder, she would snap one of his bones in places that would devastate his nerves. If the Guard had not dubbed her as the Unmaker a few years ago, perhaps she would be known as The Nightmare.

The tolling bells brought more guards their way, but Vittoria's might was quick to capture them all in an embrace of pain.

Cries and wails bounced off the walls, the dust still settling but Vittoria barely broke a sweat despite her power having a near dozen under her nasty spell. They could not find reprieve, could not escape the pain she was serving them with no end in sight.

"I will go ahead, clear the halls for us." She offered, already advancing to take down anyone that came to investigate the symphony of pain.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

The taps on his wrist sent Alistair's head whipping around behind them, now that he was looking his enhanced hearing could vaguely hear the footsteps. Keeping the enemy at their back and just pushing the problem down the road did not feel like a good idea, but they would need to do things quickly.

Alistair signed to Marcia that they would plan to ambush, he would take the one on the right and her the one on the left. They should expect these to be shifters, and they would need to kill them before they made too much noise, which meant aiming for the throat or brain.

He had other runes that he could use to assist in this quick execution, but he had a feeling the stealth runes would serve them more in the future if they pulled this off.

Alistair slid to one side of the hallway and pulled two silver daggers from his belt that had been painted over with matte black paint so as to remove any shine from them.

His eyes glanced to Marcia to ensure she was ready, but as the footsteps grew closer he knew that their time for waiting was over. Like the trained assassin and shadow that he was, Alistair slipped from his hiding spot aiming his blade at the back of the neck of the large man before him.

Marcia